


Contraband

by chapscher



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: M/M, Sheriff's Secret Police, reeducation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-13
Updated: 2014-09-13
Packaged: 2018-02-17 05:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2298704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chapscher/pseuds/chapscher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At sixteen years old, Cecil and Earl's relationship takes a sudden and drastic turn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Earl’s pulse quickened as he quietly closed his bedroom door, his eyes raking down Cecil’s backside. Their books and homework were left in a pile downstairs in the kitchen. School was behind them now and Earl and his boyfriend were finally alone in the bedroom. He knew what was likely to happen and how distant it was from what he had hoped would happen. But that didn’t concern him. No matter what he and Cecil would do, Earl welcomed it.

“So, um,” he said, not moving from the door. “This is my room. I sleep here and… yeah.”

“I like it,” Cecil hummed as he ran his fingers over Earl’s folded scout uniform and polished medals.

Earl stepped beside Cecil, knowing that a bright red blush was creeping up his neck and over his ears. “I got that for organizing last year’s Night Vale Education Foundation Walk/Run. The NVEF said that they would do it again this year. I even got this really nice letter from the national president of the Boy Scouts.” He pointed to a framed letter on the wall. “And that pin I got for leading the cub scouts on a camping trip out to the desert and protecting them from the moving scorpion pit that kept chasing us.”

“Smart _and_ brave,” Cecil said, leaning against the dresser and leering at Earl. He closed the distance between them and slipped his tongue into Earl’s mouth. The scout’s knees buckled under him as he became very aware of the bed just a few feet away.

“Well, I wouldn’t have been able to do it if it wasn’t for your endorsement over NVCR.”

Cecil smiled. “I didn’t make the announcement. I just intern there.”

“It still helped.”

Cecil stepped back, leaving Earl propped against the foot of the bed and blushing heavily. He popped his hip slightly has he turned and approached a tall bookcase, his tight intern shirt riding up and exposing tanned skin. Biting his lip, Earl imagined tracing his fingers over his boyfriend’s warm body and pulling away the rest of his clothes.

“You have a lot of books,” Cecil commented, slipping his hands into his back pockets.

“For scouting.”

The rows of books were neatly organized. Key books such as _A Guide to Wilderness and Desert Shelters_ , _You Won’t Be Accidentally Set on Fire If You Just Hold Still: Bloodstone Healing and You,_ and _Rebuilding Civilization: How to Make Orwell a Reality_ were all clumped in with similar titles. Although there were some that were read more than others, each was used as reference before Earl acted out any of his scoutly duties.

“These are way more than the fifteen municipally-approved books we’re allowed to keep in our homes.”

“Not really,” Earl said, stepping up beside Cecil and waving a hand over the bookshelf. “I mean, that book is three volumes, so it’s kinda like one big book and not three smaller ones. And those two are the same book but different editions. Those are part of a series.” He glanced up and saw that Cecil’s brow was furrowed in thought as he lightly chewed on his lower lip. “Don’t worry about it, Sweet Cecil.”

Cecil’s eyes scanned over the bookshelf once more before he turned to Earl and kissed him slowly. Earl’s hand finally rested on that patch of exposed skin from where Cecil’s shirt had rode up in the back. The kiss grew more forceful as Cecil unbuckled Earl’s belt before backing him against the bed and shoving him onto the mattress.


	2. Chapter 2

He waited for Cecil under the tree in the pack across the street from the high school. It was where they usually met before Earl walked him to his home so they could work and spend some time together. It had been over a week since he had waited for Cecil like this and was quickly growing tempted to leave this post.

There was a familiar dull pain in his temple and Earl’s hand lifted to rub his head. His fingers slipped under bandages that were wrapped around his forehead to touch the still sensitive patches of skin where the electrodes were connected. The bandages would have to be changed again once he got home.

“Hi.”

Earl put his hand down and glanced over at Cecil, but their eyes refused to meet. Cecil looked just slightly away from Earl, his eyes cast down and cheeks flushed as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“Do you know what happened,” Earl said, more statement than question.

“I had to, Earl.”

“You what?”

“You’re a cub scout leader. You can’t stand in direct opposition to the laws established by The City Council,” Cecil said, finally looking up. Earl’s gaze was completely still, focused at some point just a few inches behind Cecil’s eyes. The scout didn’t blink or even slightly move as he remained staring and studying that strange point somewhere inside Cecil’s head. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“I brought you,” Earl said steadily, his voice measured, “into my room because I trusted you. The night we had in the desert and everything we did before and since then made me believe that I could. And that I could without any fear of you betraying that trust.” Although Earl’s voice did not falter, his cheeks were flushed and it was becoming difficult for him to breathe. “Do you know what happened, Cecil?”

“You were reeducated, I know. But you know that the scouts-”

“First they came when I was getting dressed for school. The Sheriff’s Secret Police came right into my house and surrounded me. Two pinned me down and handcuffed me and five others went to my room and took all of my books. They were so quiet that my parents were still asleep when my books and I were taken out the front door and past my neighbor as she went outside for the morning paper.”

“Earl, I-”

“-They took me to The Abandoned Mineshaft for questioning and forced me to confess. Because if I didn’t confess or of I plead ignorance, I would have been sentenced to weeks in The Dark Box. Then they took me to a room where I was to strip out of my clothes and lay on a hospital bed and a nurse shoved an IV needle into my veins, but not before missing about twelve times. It felt like every muscle and nerve was being pulled out of my arms from the bruised and bleeding holes that were stabbed into me. I was held down again and was screaming and crying in front of the nurse and the police officers. It was humiliating, but it didn’t hurt as badly as whatever they put into the IV drip.”

“Earl, stop.”

“Cecil, you don’t know shit about the paralysis or the induced seizures or lying there naked and sobbing because whatever new cocktail they’re pumping into your veins feels like it’s going to boil your heart. Where everything inside feels like it’s on fire but your skin is cold and sweating.”

“Earl.”

“And there’s no clock and they keep knocking you out so you have no idea how long they’ve kept you. And then when you are finally allowed to leave, you’re only half-dressed and dumped in the alley behind the Ralph’s and you still are barely conscious and can’t move. So you lie there and pray to the masters of us all that you are able to get up and get out of there before someone finds you like that.”

“Earl.”

“You don’t know anything about this. You never went through it. And you never had to walk around with big, obvious bandages wrapped around your head like this with everyone staring at you and thinking ‘oh, what did he do?’ I can’t work with the scouts like this. I can barely even go to school like this. And I don’t even want to go into my room because everything about it just feels so fucking wrong.”

Cecil reached up and cupped Earl’s face in his hands. “Earl,” he said again. His thumb gently brushed against Earl’s cheek, wiping a tear away and forming a new wet streak across his face.

“Fuck.”

“I’m here for you now.”

“Why should I believe you, Cecil?”

“Because I reported you as someone concerned for the scouts. But… as a boyfriend, I can take care of you now.”

Earl pulled his face away from Cecil’s hands and stepped back. “No, Cecil.” He wiped his tears on the back of his hand. “That’s not how this works.” Stepping away again, it felt like the distance between the two of them grew tenfold. “I loved you. And I have trusted you with my life. At school, with the scouts, you know that. And you didn’t have to do what you did, Cecil. And we really could have had something special.”

“We still can, Earl.”

“No.” He shouldered his backpack, but didn’t look away. Not yet. “I don’t think you have any idea how much will have to change before that could happen.”


End file.
